Please enjoy the latest edition of Short Circuit, a weekly feature written by a bunch of people at the Institute for Justice.
In 2023, police in Marion, Kan.—armed with bogus warrants—raided the offices of a local newspaper, the home of the newspaper owner (a nonagenarian who died of a heart attack the following day), and the home of a city councilwoman who'd been critical of the mayor. And this week, Marion County and its sheriff agreed to a financial settlement, admitted the raids violated the First and Fourth Amendments, and apologized. The lawsuit proceeds, however, against the City of Marion and its now-former mayor and now-former police chief. Read all about it in the Marion County Record, or The New York Times, or quite a few other places.
Over at The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, IJ's Anya Bidwell and Patrick Jaicomo call a spade a spade and say that this week's vote in the Senate to give senators—and only senators—a cause of action to sue federal officials (who, notably, are also stripped of qualified immunity) is an unqualified betrayal.
